Olympic gold medalist Dawn Harper-Nelson and her husband Alonzo Nelson Jr. have been in the trenches since returning to their hometown of East St. Louis.
When you ride into the city limits of East St. Louis the “City of Champions,” you see the accomplishments of our Olympic gold medalists.
Both are 2002 graduates of East St. Louis Senior High, and both are instrumental in their own right in helping out the high school, as well as our community.
On Friday, both Dawn and her husband will bring joy to a few families in need in East St. Louis. Alonzo, who graduated in 2006 from Southeast Missouri State with a degree in chemistry, and Dawn spoke with a few principals and social workers in the district to identify a few families in need.
Currently, Nelson is a math teacher at the high school. Dawn has always been around giving our area youths a hand between traveling and training. After discussing their Christmas initiative with administrators, they decided to help.
One of the families chosen is the Brown family, which consists of five siblings; three attend the high school. All are being raised by their grandmother. The other family is the Wiley family, whose children attend Dunbar Elementary on the southwest end of town.
After the Nelsons reached out to these families, the requested list “sadly contained more needs than wants,” said Harper-Nelson. “So my husband and I went to work in the local stores to try to make these families have a Merry Christmas. Not only will we give gifts to these families in need, but we will purchase some gift cards from local grocery stores so they can purchase some food items as well.”
Both of these former star athletes from East St. Louis had a heart of gold, even before thinking of tomorrow’s festivities. The dynamic duo was on the picket line together during the recent month-long teacher’s strike.
Alonzo still holds the SEMO school record in the 400-meter hurdles. In addition, he was a member of the record-setting 4×400-meter relay team both in indoor and outdoor competition, which still stands today.
Dawn, a 2006 graduate from UCLA with a degree in psychology, was a six-time All-American. She competed in the Olympic Games in 2008 and 2012 in the 100-meter hurdles. She won the gold in 2008, and the silver in 2012. Currently, she is back and forth, training in Los Angeles for a shot at her third Olympic Games in 2016 in Rio.
Said Dawn, “Hopefully, my husband and I will make a difference in some people’s lives during this time of year. We love East St. Louis and will continue to be very active with the lives of people in our community, especially our youth.
Said Nelson, “Dawn and I have pledged to help our youth by any means necessary. If we can put a smile on these families faces and help them, it brings great pleasure as a couple that we have helped others.”
